Mistletoe
by Violet Hyena
Summary: Gabriel get's poisoned and ends up with something akin to the stomach flu. Sam stays back from a hunt to take care of his Archangel. Fluff and tender belly rubs.


Just carrying this over from Tumblr since lots of people seemed to like this one. I don't write sick fics often, so it was a challenge that turned out very well.

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Normally Gabriel entered the Winchester motel rooms with flare, gusto, or at least some finesse. But one morning, Sam didn't realize Gabriel had appeared until he was tapped on the shoulder as he was researching their current case. He looked up, maybe expecting to see Castiel, because appearing silently was his thing.

"Gabriel?" Sam blinked, seeing his heavy eyelids and a flushed, or even green shade, to his face. "You don't look so good." Gabriel gave a half hearted smile.

"I don't feel so good. Must have been something I ate," Gabriel said, arms folded over his vessel's stomach, which gave a disturbing whine in protest. "Hush you." Sam raised his brows.

"Did you actually eat too much candy or something?" Sam had joked about Gabriel eating too much chocolate before, but Gabriel always said the perk of being an archangel was that he got all of the good taste and none of the belly aches.

Gabriel shrugged and plopped down on Dean's bed on his back. "Or something. I think I was poisoned." Sam waited for the punchline but Gabriel just let out a painful groan.

"Y-you're serious?" Sam stood up from his research, ready to call Poison Control or take Gabriel to get his stomach pumped. Though he paused, wondering if poison effected archangels. "You're susceptible to poison?"

"Certain kinds." Gabriel muttered, his eyes closed and his hand waving about sluggishly. "Magical or cursed poisons. I do have a long list of enemies. I mean, it probably wasn't Kali because she's more likely to leave a burn mark. She likes to destroy people in person. Maybe it was Odin. He's a spiteful asshat."

"Do you need something?" Sam asked, because poison was not something to take lightly.

"A place to rest," Gabriel said. "Can't really do anything except wait for my being to heal from it. It's like the worst case of indigestion in the world. Only an angel sword can really kill me, you know." Gabriel then sat up, sounding thoughtful. "I bet it was Baldr, or even Frigg. She never did forgive me for _nearly_ killing her precious, perfect little princess. Seriously. Do you **know** how tired I was? Hearing how _perfect_ he was? Perfect little momma's boy more like it…" Sam sighed, figuring Gabriel was being dramatic. If he was energetic enough to rant about Baldr, he was well enough to heal on his own. Well, that's what he thought until he saw Gabriel cover his mouth, and then a second later he disappeared, only for Sam to hear him in the bathroom retching.

It was _lovely_ timing when Dean came in with breakfast and heard an archangel puking in the bathroom. Sam sighed, having to explain that Gabriel had to stay for a while. Dean is not happy with this fact but he at least grimaced when he heard Gabriel the second time, with a bit more of a choking sound.

Then Gabriel said, "Oh, well mystery solved. It was Frigg. She's the only one that would send me mistletoe."

Sam loaned his bed to Gabriel and left a bucket for him beside the bed. Not that Gabriel couldn't make it to the toilet, but it was the thought that counted in Sam's opinion.

"TV…" Gabriel bemoaned in a zombie like fashion. Sam rolled his eyes when the motel room's brick television became a plasma widescreen… -what ever it was- on the wall and turned to the nearest cartoon channel. "Hey, hey, don't mock the healing power of Television."

"You're a grown angel, I would think you'd chose something better than Loony Tunes." Sam adjusted his tie because he and Dean were going undercover again.

"Old ones or the new ones?" Dean asked, finally finished in the bathroom and ready to hit the road.

"Classics, of course," Gabriel said. Dean made a face that said that was an acceptable answer before he jiggled the keys at Sam.

"Okay, okay." Sam looked at Gabriel. "You have our numbers, and we let Cas know that you're here and not feeling good. Are you sure I can't get you anything? There's not some spell that will help?" Gabriel have him a smile.

"Just your tender love and affection," Gabriel said, which was good for getting a gag reaction from Dean before he left the motel room. "At least give me a kiss before you go." Sam gave a glance at the closed motel door before he leaned down to kiss Gabriel's brow, completely missing his puckered lips. He was not kissing that mouth when he'd seen the black sludge that had come out of it.

"You focus on healing up," Sam said, walking towards the door and ignoring Gabriel's childish pout. "And no pranks."

"Oh sure, take the fun out of _everything,_" Gabriel muttered. Before Sam closed the door he asked, "Still love me?"

Sam sighed but nodded. "Yes, still love you." Then he shut the door and tried to focus on their case.

After some useful information had been gathered, Sam and Dean stopped by a corner store for some supplies. Sam found himself looking at the pharmaceuticals for more than a couple minutes, trying to figure out how much activated charcoal an archangel would need to purge the poison in his system. He would probably need a whole county's worth; but it wasn't magical, so he wasn't sure if it would work on cursed mistletoe.

Sam grabbed the only 3 bottles that were left on the shelf and as he passed by the drink section he picked up a box of cheap chamomile tea because it was supposed to help with everything; magic induced stomach aches included.

Dean gave him a raised brow at the checkout line before he asked, "You going to make him homemade chicken soup too?"

"Shut up," Sam said, he wasn't just going to sit by and do absolutely nothing while his lover was suffering.

"I think he's faking it," Dean said. "Seriously, mistletoe? People use that for kissing."

"It's also a very deadly poison," Sam informed him as they were getting their order rung up. "In Norse Legend, it was the only thing that the goddess Frigg had not asked to never harm her son Baldr. Loki used another god to shoot mistletoe to kill Baldr."

"Then who was the guy walking around that hotel?" Dean asked, remembering Baldr and Kali had had a thing.

"I think that's why Gabriel said_ 'nearly killed'_ Baldr." Sam paid for the groceries and his things for Gabriel. He was eager to get home and check on the archangel to see how he was doing. "Gods can be spiteful."

Making it back to the motel room, it was eerie to Gabriel still in the same spot he'd left him in that morning. Gabriel looked half dazed as Sam walked over to the bed and sat next to him. Gabriel's face was flushed and there was a shine of sweat on his skin.

"Wow, you look like crap," Dean said from the doorway.

Gabriel scoffed. "Well thanks, Dino. Remind me to return the favor when your insides are molten lava."

"Stop it you two." Sam opened the bag and showed Gabriel the bottle, but didn't get any recognition to it. "I figured it couldn't hurt to get something for poison. It's charcoal."

"Bleck," was Gabriel's only response.

"Don't be a baby about it," Sam told him.

Gabriel's head rolled back as he rolled his eyes and slowly pushed himself up. "How much did you get?"

"They only had three left," Sam said.

"Three cases? Three pounds? Three tons?"

"Bottles. Three bottles." Sam shrugged.

Gabriel sighed and pinched the bridge his nose for a moment. "Better than nothing I guess." Gabriel popped off the bottle cap and Sam got up to turn on the cheapest coffee maker on the motel room table to make hot water with. Dean was doing his best to ignore them and was changing from his crisp suit to more comfortable hunting clothes. Sam went back over to join Gabriel when he had a paper cup of hot water with two teabags starting to steep. Gabriel had already emptied the whole bottle down his throat and Sam blinked.

"I wasn't expecting it to go that fast," Sam said.

"Well if it's going to have any effect, might as well down them all." Gabriel closed his eyes, still sitting up. Sam pressed his hand lightly to Gabriel's fevered brow but immediately pulled back, as though touching the red coils of a stove.

"Ow…" Sam's hand went to his mouth and Gabriel blinked tiredly. "You're… literally burning up."

"Oh great." Gabriel groaned, his face sinking into his hands. "I hate this part." It was obviously not the first time Gabriel had been poisoned like this, but it didn't ease Sam's mind.

"Um, I guess hot tea wouldn't help at the moment then," Sam muttered. Gabriel seemed to realize Sam was holding the cup in his hands.

"You made me tea?" Gabriel asked and a smile creased on his face as he rested his chin in his hand. "You're sweet." Sam shrugged and tried not to be aware of Dean making faces in the background.

"I… dunno if it'll really help, but yeah," Sam said. Gabriel look the cup and Sam grimaced as Gabriel started to drink it. "It's still… hot." The temperature didn't seem to bother Gabriel though, which Sam was relieved to see. Archangel, he reminded himself. Sam watched a puff of steam leave Gabriel's mouth as he let out a partly relieved sigh.

"Trust me, it's still a few hundred degrees cooler than what's going on in here," Gabriel told him with a tired smile. Sam returned the smile and Gabriel laid back down, seemingly to rest, but since angels didn't sleep, Sam could only guess that Gabriel was resting his eyes and focusing on healing.

"Come on, Sam, we got us a chupacabra to catch tonight," Dean said, packing the essentials for a good old fashioned monster hunt. Sam changed out of his suit, but he looked at Gabriel and felt conflicted. Gabriel was still sick, perhaps even vulnerable to attack in his current state.

"Maybe you should ask Cas to go on this hunt with you," Sam said as the sun was going down; a good time to head out and start a hunt. Dean blinked, confused.

"Why? You and me can handle it," Dean said.

"Because… I think I should stay with Gabriel until he's feeling better," Sam said. Dean looked betrayed. "It's one night, Dean, I think you and Cas can handle one chupacabra."

"That's _our_ thing though," Dean muttered. Sam rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

"Come on, Dean. Gabriel's sick. Gabriel, the archangel that saved us from Lucifer…"

"Jesus, fine." Dean looked up, getting out his phone. Several seconds after Dean asked, "Wanna go on a hunt?" Castiel had appeared in the motel room and said in person that yes, he would like to go on a hunt. Sam found it amusing and resisted to wish them a fun first date as they both left.

Gabriel started stirring an hour later while Sam had pulled out a book to read. An actual, fictional book. Not another tome on monsters.

"Hey," Sam said, sitting up on the other bed. Gabriel made a groan in response. "I keep trying to figure out if you're sleeping or not."

"Nah, there are just periods that I feel way too dizzy to do anything," Gabriel muttered, blinking his eyes open. He let out a mild belch that didn't sound too pleasant and Gabriel made a face that confirmed it, his hands over his stomach. "Sam, if you ever get a pie from an anonymous admirer. Do not, I repeat, do not eat it."

"Noted." Sam shut his book and moved over to Gabriel's bed. He carefully touched his cheek and found it wasn't actually scalding hot anymore. "At least you won't be burning down the motel tonight."

"Yay," Gabriel said with the scariest lack of enthusiasm. Sam made him more tea and had Gabriel swallowed another bottle of charcoal. This time he actually let the tea cool and steep properly. Gabriel gave him a tired smile as he laid down again. "You're too good to me." Sam shrugged, face flushing ever so lightly.

"You're sick. I don't even feel like I'm doing much." Sam took Gabriel's hand and it squeezed back lightly. Maybe he was just worried. He'd never seen Gabriel like this. Never imagined an archangel to be immobilized by something like poison or anything less than a nuclear bomb.

"You're doing a human thing," Gabriel said, his eyes closed, looking peaceful for the first time in hours. "Caring about me." It sounded so alien when Gabriel said that. It made it sound like angels didn't take care of one another. Or maybe Gabriel was still somewhat delirious and he was talking about the gods he'd been with for so long.

"Is there anything else I can do?" Sam asked softly. He felt a bit useless and anything he'd looked up for normal mistletoe just told him to call Poison Control. The least he could do was to keep Gabriel as comfortable as possible.

"Mmm," Gabriel's one eye opened some, "belly rub?" It sounded like a joke. It should have been a joke. Sam wanted to ask of Gabriel was serious, but he really knew Gabriel better than that. The small smile told him he WAS joking, but the watching eye hinted that Gabriel really did want some more pampering. Sam sighed, glad Dean was gone.

"Only because you're sick," Sam told him. Gabriel looked pleased as Sam pulled down the sheets and pushed up Gabriel's shirts. Gabriel's skin was flushed even under his clothes but it was a tolerable heat. Sam's palm started a circular, clockwise motion over Gabriel's soft belly. Gabriel let out a relaxed sound, closing his eyes again. He smiled a little and laid over Gabriel's lap to get comfortable, his freehand tucking under Gabriel's side for someplace to rest. It was a comfortable quiet; intimate in a non-sexual way. After a time, Gabriel's hand found Sam's, their fingers knitting together at his side in a silent thank you. Sam at least felt like he was doing something to help, which made him smile.

Sam woke up, half curled on Gabriel's lap and his legs had found space along side the bed. Gabriel was sitting up and his face had returned to it's original color and his eyes had life to them again.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," Gabriel said.

"Morning." Sam returned, rubbing his eyes and ignoring the princess name. "You look better."

"Much." Gabriel leaned over and out of the bucket (that Gabriel didn't actually use for vomiting) he pulled out a handful of green leaves and white berries. "It all started coming out this morning." Sam blinked at the pile that was dropped back into the bucket. He could only imagine Gabriel spilling up foliage, but Sam was grateful that he hadn't seen anymore mysterious black substance that had been purged the first time Gabriel had to use their toilet.

Sam stretched out and sighed, his back popping from the way he'd been laying. "How did you eat so much mistletoe without realizing it was in the pie?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Well it was _really_ good pie. You try to not eat an entire Asgardian baked pie in one sitting."

"I'll tell Dean not to eat Asgard's pie." Sam said and looked behind him, seeing Dean sprawled out on his bed, fast asleep. "Hunt must have been successful." Gabriel shrugged.

"Hunt, date, what ever you want to call it," Gabriel said. Sam smiled and pushed himself up to kiss Gabriel's lips.

"I'm glad you're better," Sam said.

Gabriel sighed in a dazed, happy way. "I feel like I should say something about mistletoe and kissing." Sam rolled his eyes and kissed Gabriel, pushing him back down so he could, lay on top of him.

"No mistletoe jokes for the rest of your life." Sam told him and Gabriel made a noise that was probably temporary agreement. They snuggled up together until Dean woke up and started complaining about them being all mushy while he was in the same room.


End file.
